


Changed Heart and Mind

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Memory Alteration, S4 AU, Time Travel, changing the future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-18 03:30:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12379998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: Sam was in the Cage, Dean was broken in a way that Castiel couldn't fix, and Castiel was more powerful than he had been before Lucifer killed him.  Clearly, this was a sign that God wanted him to do something about the first two.He could also do something about his greatest regrets, and save some of his brothers and sisters, if he went back to the right time.  There were no guarantees, but he had to try.Sam walked into his and Dean's motel room and drew a gun on the two strange men in there.





	Changed Heart and Mind

“Sam, wait!” Dean reached out and put a hand on his brother’s arm. “Sammy, meet Castiel.”

“Castiel? The angel?” Sam lowered the gun, awe and eagerness replacing the fear and wariness on his face. “Oh, my god! I mean… sorry, I’m sorry, I just… I’ve heard so much about you.” Sam stopped talking before the babble could get any worse. Instead, he held out a hand.

“And I, you.” Castiel hesitated, looking at Sam’s hand, but when he reached out to take it, it was with warmth as he wrapped both hands around Sam’s. “Sam Winchester. The boy…”

“Shut up.” A hand slapped over Castiel’s mouth, and everyone turned to stare. There were two Castiels in the room. “Do not speak of things which you know nothing about. You know _nothing_ of Sam Winchester.” Once he was satisfied that the other Castiel wouldn’t speak, he let his hand drop and took a step back. “Hello, Sam. It’s good to see you. Dean.” He turned to the other person in the room, the one Dean hadn’t identified, and his voice dropped about a million degrees. “Uriel.”

Uriel’s voice was no warmer. “Castiel. What are you doing? You know how dangerous it is to interfere with a timeline.”

“Salachiel. Nathaniel. Delilah. Elias. Miriam. Hezekiah. Ruth. Seven of our brothers and sisters whose lives I can save today.”

“Six.” Uriel smirked. “Salachiel is already dead.”

Blades appeared in all three angels’ hands, and Uriel and present-day Castiel wore identical looks of shock when Future Castiel proved to be the fastest. Uriel flashed as Castiel’s blade pierced his heart. “This is also for Sam, you son of a bitch.” Future Castiel turned to glare at his doppleganger as Uriel fell to the ground, scarring the room with the black imprints of wings. “You changed once. See that it happens again.”

“Explain. Now,” the present-day Castiel demanded.

“The seven angels I named refused to join Uriel in his crusade to raise Lucifer – a crusade sanctioned by Heaven, as high as Raphael, perhaps even Michael. Uriel killed them. I don’t know how many said yes. I was to be his eighth victim, but Anael saved us.”

“Anael? But she fell.”

“Sam was able to figure out where to find her grace, and he and Dean managed to use Alastair to create an opportunity for her to take it back before Uriel and I could kill her. I don’t know what will happen now, but you will probably receive the order to kill her soon.”

Castiel nodded. “And Sam?”

“You doubt even now what Heaven claims about him. Heaven wants the Apocalypse to happen, although their support ranges from sitting back and waiting to actively assisting Lilith in breaking the seals. Listen to your heart, and your sense. If Sam were what Heaven says he is…”

“Then Dean would not have sold his soul for him. I know.”

“Give him a true chance, and you will come to love him as I do.” Sam stared at Future Castiel in shock, but Future Castiel wasn’t done. “I came back here to save Sam. Saving the others from Uriel is a nice bonus, and you should be able to save Anael as well.”

Present-Day Castiel nodded. “Give me the memories. Everything I need to know.”

Future Castiel reached out and laid two fingers to Present-Day Castiel’s temple. “You will have to work out the appropriate way to deal with my memories of Sam and Dean. Things have changed. They will not become the Sam and Dean I’ve shown you.”

Present-Day Castiel stepped back, glaring at his future self with disgust. “On the other hand, I will never betray Sam and Dean, or Anna. I’ll never become you.”

“As it should be. Goodbye.” The Future Castiel left, leaving the Winchesters with the remaining angel.

There was a long silence, which Dean finally broke. “Well? You gonna fill the humans in on what the fuck just happened?”

Castiel jumped. “First, there is a seal to save. There are two witches, an art teacher named Don Harding and his student Tracy Davis. Tracy is young, only a teenager, but you must kill her as well – she’s the one who actually raised Samhain in the other future.”

“Who…”

“The strange deaths you’re investigating here are being caused by two witches intent on raising a demon called Samhain. If he rises tonight, a seal breaks. It was a test for the two of you. Dean, they wanted to see what you would do to get a better sense of who you are. Sam, they were testing your commitment to turning your back on Ruby and your powers.”

“You’re sure you got the witches identified right?” Dean asked.

“I’m sure. The charred bone you found in a hex bag…”

“Had to be done in a really, really hot fire… like a ceramics kiln,” Sam said. Which pointed to the art teacher and his student. “I knew something was bugging me.”

Dean looked at Sam, and Sam nodded once. He was willing to trust Castiel on this one. “Okay. So we know who to gank and they won’t be hard to find, so what the hell just happened? What were you and your buddy there about to do to Sammy?”

“I was about to say something I would come to regret very much, and when the seal broke, Uriel would have threatened to kill Sam the second he became more liability than useful. In desperation, faced with the choice of using his powers or letting you die, Sam chose to use his powers to kill Samhain.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “So both of us failed the test. Great.”

“Your test wasn’t one you could pass or fail, it was about seeing what you would do. Sam, yes, I’m sorry, but you failed Heaven’s test of you. You were intended to, I believe, and I agreed with your choice even then. Passing the test would have meant watching Dean die, because you were supposed to believe that the angels would bring him back the way we raised him from Hell. Between Uriel and me, your faith would have been irreparably harmed, Sam. I am grateful to have been stopped in time.”

“What was that about coming to love Sam as he did?” Dean asked. “Can’t have been what it sounded like.”

Castiel's eyes narrowed and he took a step closer to Dean. “Why not? Do you think your brother unlovable?”

“No, that’s…" Dean rolled his eyes and looked helplessly at Sam. Sam just shrugged. He had no idea why Castiel was so upset either. "You’re an angel, he’s…”

“He is a believer and a good man. The other me watched him do things no human could be capable of, that no one should ever be asked to do. He came back to stop Sam from having to sacrifice himself by jumping into the worst imaginable torment for eternity with no hope of rescue, simply because he believed that strongly in cleaning up his mistake and saving the world.”

Well. That sounded grim. Sam wondered if it was the demon blood Ruby had gotten him to drink or something worse. “So it was exactly what it sounded like.”

“Yes.”

Dean pondered a minute, and then his face lit up. “My little brother was getting touched by an angel.”

“No." Another confused glance between the Winchesters. "He never said anything to Sam about it. There was never a good time,” Castiel explained.

Dean rolled his eyes and started to say something, but Sam intervened. “Dean, just because this Castiel has the memories doesn’t mean he has the feelings. Chill.”

“I don’t, but I do know why they developed and find it unlikely that they won’t develop again. Heaven is very wrong about you, although I suspect they know it and don’t care. They want this Apocalypse to happen.”

“So what are you doing here?” Sam was glad Dean had asked. If Heaven wanted the Apocalypse, why send Castiel to help the Winchesters prevent it? What the Winchesters didn't know about, they couldn't stop.

“Inadvertently helping it along. Wearing you down so you’ll do as the angels ask, pushing Sam so that he’ll follow the path Ruby wants to take him down, all the while believing I’m doing the right thing until it’s too late. Once we’ve saved this seal, I have an idea how to stop all this. Seal first. Go find Don and Tracy and stop them.”


End file.
